Theatrefolk Featured Play: The Baloney, the Pickle, the Zombies, and Other Things I Hide From My Mother by Bradley Walton

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Today we look at The Baloney, the Pickle, the Zombies, and Other Things I Hide From My Mother, a comedy for high schools and middle schools where Trevor is in the basement experimenting. He wants to build an army of zombies… by bringing baloney to life. Will his plan work before the expiry date?

“What are you doing with the baloney?” That’s the question Emma asks her big brother Trevor when she finds him in the kitchen at 2 A.M.

But Trevor is up to much more than a late night snack — he’s bringing food to life with experiments he hopes will lead to the creation of zombies he can sell as cheap laborers.

Together with his living baloney-minon, Meyer, Trevor is about to embark on a night in which he will face an angry neighbor, be questioned by police, bring a pickle to life, and discover that his food may actually be smarter than he is… all while trying to keep everything secret from his mother and little sister.

Why did we publish this play?
This play uses my favourite theatrical device – personification. Why not have characters such as life-sized baloney? It also has a wonderfully descriptive title that includes baloney, zombies, pickles and moms. Titles are the doorway into a theatrical world and with this play Bradley has the door wide open, and is standing with a plate of sandwiches welcoming you in. This is a play that welcomes you to laugh and enjoy yourself, and that’s why it’s in our catalogue.

Let’s hear from the author!

1. Why did you write this play? 
One night I was in the kitchen getting some baloney out of the fridge. My daughter walked into the room and asked, “What are you doing with the baloney, daddy?” Which prompted me to wonder what I might possibly be doing with the baloney besides eating it. The gears in my head started turning.

2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. 
Don’t play with your food–especially if it’s smarter than you are.

3. What is the most important visual for you in this play? 
The baloney costume–it sets the audience up for all of the weirdness that follows.

4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? 
I’m normally a fan of minimal and suggestive costuming, but It think this show really benefits from having strong baloney and pickle costumes, so I would advise trying to make those look as good as possible.

5. Why is this play great for student performers? 
At some point in their lives, just about all young people have kept something hidden from their parents or siblings. This play takes that universally familiar situation and goes absolutely bonkers with it.